The Corporation by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan is a film about the overpowering corporate form. The 14th amendment has been applied to corporations. This gives them the legal rights of a person. The film explores every aspect of corporations, including how the law treats them and how this affects the everyday person.
The goal of a corporation is to make money. The film used examples of corporations using rather immoral strategies to reach this goal. If a corporation has the rights of a human, shouldn’t it be held to the same moral standard? Corporations need to worry more about the stake holders than the stock holders.
There were two exceptionally compelling arguments to the immoral acts of corporations. The first was the man who spoke about September 11th. He said his first reaction, along with many others, was that gold would go up. He almost brushed off the tragedy because the price of gold was skyrocketing. In an almost, but not quite, joke he discussed how Sadaam’s actions had an effect on oil prices. He said the more Sadaam did to cause problems, the higher prices would go. This was a good thing to him. He did express that no one really wanted something bad to happen, but it was in the backs of the brokers’ minds.
The second example happened much longer ago. During World War II corporations could not sell their products in Nazi Germany. This would lower sales in other countries due to the views of the world on the Nazi Party. Coca Cola could not lose this market and designed a new drink to sell in Nazi territory. It was an orange soda called Fanta, which is now sold all over. IBM was possibly the worst corporation during all of this. They provided the computers and punch cards used in concentration camps. They could not collect profits during the war; they didn’t want to be seen as helping the Nazi Party. All the profit was received after the war ended.
Corporations’ power is growing. They can officially patent not only inventions, but living creatures. GE was the first by patenting a microbe. It was hugely controversial, but allowed because it did not look like an animal. This has grown and the laws have changed stating anything alive that is not a full born human being can be protected by a patent.
Corporations are also sticking their hands in others countries to expand their market. In Bolivia water was privatized. They were riots in the streets to protest this decision. The prices of water caused people to become not only upset but violent. Eventually this worked and water is no longer owned by a private corporation.
Corporations have a clear hold on laws. They donate so much to political campaigns and have lobbyists to help get their message across. It is almost as if they make the laws in America, not the government. Having this immoral and power hungry group controlling the country is leading to so many issues. Corporations need to be contained and controlled through more regulations. This film really opened viewers eyes, but did nothing to tell them how to help.
The goal of a corporation is to make money. The film used examples of corporations using rather immoral strategies to reach this goal. If a corporation has the rights of a human, shouldn’t it be held to the same moral standard? Corporations need to worry more about the stake holders than the stock holders.
There were two exceptionally compelling arguments to the immoral acts of corporations. The first was the man who spoke about September 11th. He said his first reaction, along with many others, was that gold would go up. He almost brushed off the tragedy because the price of gold was skyrocketing. In an almost, but not quite, joke he discussed how Sadaam’s actions had an effect on oil prices. He said the more Sadaam did to cause problems, the higher prices would go. This was a good thing to him. He did express that no one really wanted something bad to happen, but it was in the backs of the brokers’ minds.
The second example happened much longer ago. During World War II corporations could not sell their products in Nazi Germany. This would lower sales in other countries due to the views of the world on the Nazi Party. Coca Cola could not lose this market and designed a new drink to sell in Nazi territory. It was an orange soda called Fanta, which is now sold all over. IBM was possibly the worst corporation during all of this. They provided the computers and punch cards used in concentration camps. They could not collect profits during the war; they didn’t want to be seen as helping the Nazi Party. All the profit was received after the war ended.
Corporations’ power is growing. They can officially patent not only inventions, but living creatures. GE was the first by patenting a microbe. It was hugely controversial, but allowed because it did not look like an animal. This has grown and the laws have changed stating anything alive that is not a full born human being can be protected by a patent.
Corporations are also sticking their hands in others countries to expand their market. In Bolivia water was privatized. They were riots in the streets to protest this decision. The prices of water caused people to become not only upset but violent. Eventually this worked and water is no longer owned by a private corporation.
Corporations have a clear hold on laws. They donate so much to political campaigns and have lobbyists to help get their message across. It is almost as if they make the laws in America, not the government. Having this immoral and power hungry group controlling the country is leading to so many issues. Corporations need to be contained and controlled through more regulations. This film really opened viewers eyes, but did nothing to tell them how to help.